It's Census Day! Have you returned your form yet?
If you haven't, you're not alone. In fact, at only 38 percent, Chicago ranks among the worst cities in the country when it comes to returning census forms, according to the Census Bureau.
About 50 percent of U.S. households have returned their census forms by today's due date, reports Crains Chicago Business.
And while the State of Illinois is reporting a 52-percent participation rate, only 38 percent of Chicago households have submitted their forms.
Come on, Chicago! Are we really going to let the rest of the state show us up?
"We're concerned about the relatively low response from Chicago," Census Director Robert Groves said, according to the Sun-Times. "Every household that fails to send back their census form by mail must be visited by a census taker starting in May – at a significant taxpayer cost."
The Bureau estimates that, for every 1 percent of households that don't mail back their form, the federal government spends $85 million on census takers who must visit those homes in person, reports Chicago Business.
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So fill out those forms, folks. Else we look like April Fools.
Matt Bartosik is a Chicago native and a social media sovereign.
